Behind Closed Doors
by Fitzzy
Summary: When Gilbert gets arrested, he's surprised to discover that rather than go to jail, he's been checked into Van Liateha Hospital's "SoNo"; a juvenile psychiatric unit for youths who have committed crimes. Gilbert is convinced he doesn't belong there and that his brother will come for him soon, but when Ludwig evades his calls, how long will Gilbert last before he snaps? (prucan)
1. Chapter one: Arrested

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hello there, friend! Welcome to my new story. It's not very good but I thought I'd write it up and get it out of my head once and for all!

The main pairing will be prucan. With hinted/past pruhun, nedcan, aushun. And if you really squint you might find some spamano (or romanada or prumano). It's rated M for later chapters and because Gilbo has an icky potty mouth.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Obviously. (This single chapter was influenced heavily by The Devil in Silver, which inspired this. The rest has nothing to do with the book, just so we're clear.)

* * *

Van Liateha Hospital was a huge building with pristine white stone walls and hallways so intricately laid out it was a maze to even some doctors. Gilbert had become disoriented three turns ago and gave up any plans he had of running. He slouched his shoulders, letting the two police officers drag him through the building that reeked of disinfectant.

At the back of the large main building was a long, straight hallway. When they turned into that hall, Gilbert could just see the door on the other side. Large and solid metal. Iron maybe, he figured.

The police officer to his right squeezed his arm tighter as they approached it, as though he assumed Gilbert would run. _Where do they really think I'm going to go?_ Gilbert thought bitterly. If he turned around he'd hit the brick wall of a man behind him, and he already had a nasty bruise on his cheek from trying that one earlier.

They reached the door in record speed, the officers wanted nothing more than to drop Gilbert off and go home. They had had enough of his shit when they had to deal with him for the hour long drive and the events that lead up to his 'arrest.'

"Fuck," Gilbert breathed out as they stood in front of the door. Solid metal, like a bank vault. The policeman holding his arm reached out and pushed a button on the wall beside the door. He kept his finger pressed firmly against it. Gilbert could hear a faint buzzing.

"Wave to the camera." The officer behind him smirked. Gilbert turned and looked at the roof, in the left hand corner was a little black camera. Gilbert held up his middle finger with a sneer.

The officer holding onto his arm squeezed it roughly and shook him. "You want to put the cuffs back on, kid?"

Gilbert grunted and looked back at the door. It seemed a bit over the top, a door that solid and heavy. _Who were they trying to keep out?_ He wondered.

There was a small glass window near eye level on the door, a flash of movement passed by and then a pair of eyes glanced at them through it. There was a click from the other side of the door, and the police officer finally took his finger off the buzzer.

The door swung open to reveal a man with tan skin and short brown hair. He had stubble growing along his jaw. He held the door open and stepped to the side, letting them drag Gilbert in.

_Another fucking hallway._ Gilbert rolled his eyes.

There was a small reception area to the left, where a woman with short blonde hair and an above average sized chest was sitting, writing in a file.

"Nice tits." Gilbert said suddenly, surprising even himself. The words had escaped his mouth before he could stop them.

The woman looked up at him, her mouth opened slightly and she looked affronted. The police officer holding his arm shoved him roughly against the wall, twisting his wrist behind his back. Gilbert looked almost as affronted as the woman at the desk.

"Ow, fuck! What the fuck! Ow!" Gilbert yelped out, but with the officer pushing his head roughly from behind and his cheek mashed against the wall it sounded more like; "Ow fug, whadda fug! Ow!"

"Don't disrespect a lady." The officer all but spat.

Gilbert made a few unintelligible noises before they released him. "Sorry," he grunted, not bothering to look back at her. He heard her hum in response.

The man who opened the metal door opened the one right beside Gilbert and held it for him. Rubbing his shoulder Gilbert stomped into the room bitterly.

It looked like any average conference room. The walls were covered with white boards and a pull down screen. Around a table in the middle of the room sat several people.

A man in a white lab coat, the head doctor Gilbert figured, stood up and smiled at them. He was shorter than Gilbert, barely average height, with blond hair and a soft, sweet face. He looked young, but Gilbert bet he was older than he looked.

He strode over to an empty seat and pulled it out. "You can sit here."

The officer lead Gilbert over to the seat and roughly shoved him into it. Gilbert instantly crossed his arms and slouched in the seat. His stance screamed disrespectful spoiled brat; exactly what he was.

The doctor pulled his own chair over so he was sitting in front of Gilbert, a reasonable distance between them.

"My name is Dr. Vainamoinen."

Gilbert's mouth hung open and a small, "Huh?" passed through his lips.

The doctor smiled. "But you can just call me Dr. Tino. This is Van Liateha Hospital, more specifically the unit we are in is called South North. People call it SoNo for short."

Gilbert kept any comments about why that was _fucking stupid_ to himself. If anyone would be able to help him be released and go home, it was probably this guy. Instead he pursed his lips and glared at the wall behind the doctor.

"Do you know why you're here?" Dr. Tino asked.

Gilbert felt everyone's eyes on him. The people at the table had their pens poised, ready to write down his answer and to gauge his tone, how he sounded when he responded. Agitated? Confused? Combative? Frightened? Distant?

Agitated with a side of combative. Hostile, if that was an option.

Gilbert didn't respond right away, he glanced behind him at the police officers who stood by the door. They tensed as if they expected him to try and make a break for it.

"If you arrested me shouldn't I be in jail or something? I'm not even hurt, really."

Dr. Tino sat back in his chair and glanced over at the police officers. They held their hands up in defence.

"We explained everything on the way. Not our fault if the kid wouldn't listen."

Dr. Tino turned back to Gilbert who narrowed his eyes, looking ready to start yelling and fighting again.

"This isn't just a hospital. This is a psychiatric unit. We'll go over your injuries and take your vitals soon. But first we just want to talk to you and get to know you."

Gilbert froze. He was in a fucking mental ward? No way. He didn't belong here. He got in fights and had mood swings but who didn't? He wasn't crazy.

"No," Gilbert said as he shook his head and sat up straight. "No way. I don't belong here. I thought I was just being arrested."

Dr. Tino raised a hand to silence Gilbert. "Is this your first time being in a place like this?"

The police officer who had been holding Gilbert's arm stepped forward. "As far as our records indicate, this is the first."

"Am I being charged with anything? If not then you can't keep me here, right? I can leave if I'm not being charged?" Gilbert's voice rose as he realized how real his situation was becoming.

The man who opened the doors stepped closer and sized Gilbert up. He was an orderly. Ready to be the muscle in any situation. He broke up fights between patients, held down the thrashing ones, whatever was needed.

Dr. Tino shook his head firmly. "Unfortunately, this is a bit of a special circumstance. Right now you're categorized as a 'temporary admit.' The police have brought you here and are leaving you in our custody for 72 hours."

"What? That's not fair!"

"During," Dr. Tino cut in, "Those 72 hours, we will be evaluating your mental state. If we decide you are mentally sound, you will be released after that time is up."

Gilbert glanced around the small room, some of the people were scribbling on their papers, the orderly was watching him carefully. He realized if he wanted to prove he wasn't crazy he had to calm down and behave. He could make it 72 hours. That was better than going to prison at least.

Gilbert took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. He relaxed back into his chair and then licked his lips. "So 72 hours?"

Dr. Tino smiled and nodded. "72 hours to evaluate your mental state."

"Then I can leave?" Gilbert asked.

"If you're mentally sound, yes."

Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "I know I am." He glanced back at the police officers. "Am I not being arrested then? 'Cause I'm doing this?"

"I can guarantee that we'll be back for you." The police officer sneered. "One way or another."

Gilbert grunted and slumped back into his seat. He wasn't getting out of this easily. Maybe he'd be able to call someone when they finished here. He perked up slightly at the thought, of course his brother would bail him out of this.

"Okay, we're going to ask you some questions about yourself. Let's start simple!" Dr. Tino sat up and locked eyes with Gilbert. "How about a name? What do you like to be called?"

Gilbert crossed his arms again and glared at the doctor. "You guys took my wallet and my bag, you know my name."

Dr. Tino shook his head calmly. "That's not it exactly. I do already know your name but I'm asking what you like to be called."

"Oh." Gilbert licked his lips. "Just Gilbert is fine."

"That's a start. We'll continue in a moment." With that Dr. Tino stood and moved towards the police officers. "I believe we're ready to transfer him now, so you gentlemen don't need to stick around." He moved with them into the hall way.

The room was silent as they waited for the doctor to return. Gilbert listened to the sound of someone's watch ticking. It seemed loud, too loud to be a watch.

Gilbert shut his eyes tightly and listened more intently. The sound grew louder and louder. Gilbert took a deep breath through his nose. Chanting a manta of calm down, Gilbert. Relax. Calm down. The ticking had steadily grown so loud it sounded like it was pounding in his skull. Briefly, Gilbert envisioned himself grabbing the wrist of the person with the watch and ripping it straight off their arm. Stomping and crushing the little glass face within seconds. He let out a weak, unsteady breath.

"Gilbert? Are you alright?"

The ticking stopped abruptly and Gilbert opened his eyes. Dr. Tino was back in his seat, looking at Gilbert with a look of concern and curiosity. Gilbert glanced around the table. The others were watching him too, looking more curious than concerned.

"Fine," he murmured, shaking his head.

"Are you sure?" Dr. Tino asked. Gilbert nodded in confirmation. "Well, that's good then. We have a few more questions for you, alright?"

"Whatever." Gilbert snapped, wanting to get the intake meeting over with.

"How about you tell us about your family, to start." Dr. Tino leaned back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other, a feminine way of sitting in Gilbert's opinion.

"There's not much to say." Gilbert answered.

"Hmm, okay. Let's try being a bit more specific." Dr. Tino glanced at the folder in his lap. "How about your parents?"

"Dead." Gilbert stated bluntly.

Dr. Tino raised his eyebrows. "And, if you don't mind my asking, how did they die?"

"In an accident back when we lived in Germany."

"How old were you at the time of your parents death?" Dr. Tino inquired, his pen scribbling abbreviated notes that Gilbert knew he would be analysing later on that evening.

"I don't know, I was like... 8 or something." Gilbert glanced over at the table, the other doctors and nurses lazily wrote notes, occasionally watching him for any small signs that he had the crazies.

"Okay. What happened after they died? Did you live with a relative?"

Gilbert nodded his head. "I lived with my grandfather, still do."

"How's that going for you?" Dr. Tino asked. "What's your grandfather like?"

"Strict. Up-tight with rules. Shit like that." Gilbert shrugged.

"Okay." Dr. Tino paused for a moment to jot down some notes. "Do you have any siblings?" He asked, keeping his eyes on his notes and his hand moved across the page.

Gilbert nodded his head again. "Yeah. A brother. Younger. His name is Ludwig. He's basically the complete opposite of me."

"And how exactly is he the opposite of you?" Dr. Tino asked, glancing up and smiling comfortingly at Gilbert who scrunched up his nose with a frown.

"He's perfect. Good at everything, smart, a lot like our grandfather. Nothing like me, he basically hates having fun." Gilbert snorted slightly, shaking his head.

"Are the two of you close?"

"Yeah. He's too serious but he's still my brother and that instantly makes him awesome by association." Gilbert smirked, subtly bragging about his younger brother. And though he'd never mention it aloud, he was proud of Ludwig. Proud of him for being the opposite of him. For being smart and kind and all the things Gilbert wasn't.

"You said Ludwig was the opposite of you, that he was smart. Let's discuss that for a minute, okay?" Dr. Tino flipped his pen between his fingers. "How are you managing at school?"

"School fucking sucks." Gilbert spat.

"Try not to curse." The orderly interrupted. Gilbert shot him a dirty look, but the orderly had already looked away.

"Anyway," Gilbert snapped, "I skip a lot because the classes are stupid and the teachers are _assholes._" He punctuated the last word loudly, glaring directly at the orderly who looked more amused than annoyed.

"So you don't enjoy school? Do you fight with your peers?"

"Oh," Gilbert sat up a bit, an odd, crooked smile crossed his features. "I got into a lot of fights. All the time. I like fighting because I never lose."

Gilbert hesitated and frowned, realizing that if he wanted to get out of this place he'd have to be more careful about his choice of words and what exactly he told the doctor. He needed to seem one hundred percent sane.

Dr. Tino seemed to regard him for a moment before he cocked his head to the side. "Would you like to move on to another topic, Gilbert?"

"Sure." He grunted.

Dr. Tino smiled reassuringly. "What about relationships?"

Gilbert felt his stomach muscles clench. "What about them?" The original reason for his being here in the first place, a topic he would much rather avoid.

"How are your relationships with people outside your family? Are you seeing anyone?"

Gilbert shook his head. "Not really, no." He shifted uncomfortably. "Well actually, kind of. There's this girl-Elizabeta- and she's kind of like my girlfriend but... Not really. You know?"

Dr. Tino shook his head. "Can you tell me about your relationship with Elizabeta?"

Gilbert frowned. "She was my friend but we fucked around and she knew I had a thing for her, right?" Dr. Tino nodded. "But then she goes and fucks around with this jerkoff she met in her History of Music class. How fucking lame is that?"

The orderly crossed his arms. "Quit swearing."

Gilbert bit his tongue to keep from snapping at the orderly.

"She got all bitchy about it and we sorta stopped talking..." Gilbert paused and let his sentence die off. He didn't continue on to explain that it was because of Elizabeta and that jerkoff he was stuck in this place. He figured that would only lead to more personal questions, ones he didn't quite feel up to answering yet. Lest they make him seem crazy.

For the next hour Dr. Tino asked Gilbert a plethora of various questions about himself, Gilbert answered them as honestly as he felt could (so long as it didn't make him sound bad). He wanted to sound boring and average.

After the questions, they took his vitals. Every aspect of his being was recorded in a folder with his name printed across the top in thick black letters.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

I'm not exactly satisfied with this chapter but I wanted to get this uploaded already. I know it sounds rushed and simple! I kind of want to change Gilbert's past with Elizabeta a bit but I haven't fully figured out what to do with them, so I'll settle with this for now.

Oh, also I know South North doesn't make sense, but that's kind of the point. It was originally called that by the patients as a sort of inside joke, because everyone always thought they were nuts and crazy so they decided it should have a name that didn't make sense, ya know? (... I also thought 'SoNo' sounded cool, hehe)

I think the next chapter is much better than this one and I'll have it uploaded soon, maybe (hopefully).

If you notice any mistakes let me know, I did a very sloppy editing job.

Other than that, uhm... Have a nice day and a goodnight and be happy! *kissu* uwu


	2. Chapter two: Rules and Roommates

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Some fun characters show up in this chapter, I'm glad they finally start getting introduced.

Just a heads up: Gilbert uses some rude terms and swears in this chapter! I don't know if anyone has a problem with certain words so I just thought I'd put a small warning here for ya.

Please enjoy!

* * *

Gilbert stood outside the conference room waiting for a nurse to come and get him. They had done the intake meeting and check-up in the same room and his backside was sore from sitting down for so long.

After the questions, then the check-up, they had confiscated his belongings. He wasn't allowed to have his backpack, but he got to keep a few of it's contents; two small match boxes, his wallet (with ID and some cash still inside), a hair comb and a half eaten pack of gummy candies. The rest of the contents; an almost entirely blank school notebook, a hoodie with a draw string, a small pipe ("Wow, weird. I wonder how that got in there? No, it's not mine! I'm holding it for a friend.") and an overdue library book was all left behind; either confiscated or thought useless by Gilbert. They had been sealed in a clear plastic bag along with Gilbert's necklace, belt and his shoelaces.

Gilbert looked down at his now floppy shoes. They hung open and sat awkwardly on his feet. He tried to convince them he wasn't going to hang himself with any of his belongs, but it was just a precaution they had to follow. Hospital policy.

Gilbert heard the nurse before he saw her. The squeak of her smart footwear, non-slip tennis shoes, reached his ears and he glanced both ways down the hall. The desk by the door was empty now, the door unguarded. But even from the distance Gilbert could see the lock. He wasn't getting out without a key. Not that he would leave his belongings behind.

From farther in the building, came the nurse. She had lightly tanned skin and long brunette hair that was styled into two simple low hanging ponytails. She approached Gilbert with a smile, but he could see a 'no-nonsense' look in her eyes.

"You must be Gilbert, correct?" Her voice was high and airy. She had an accent as well, but Gilbert couldn't place it.

Suddenly, he was struck with the intense urge to reach out and tug her ponytails, pull them as hard as he could just to see what she would do. Gilbert clenched his fists tightly, digging his fingernails into his palm.

Realizing she had questioned him, he nodded his head and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. His pants were baggy and hung low on his hips, without his belt they threatened to fall completely.

She smiled at him. "My name is Angelique Laroche. Everyone just calls me Nurse Angel or Angel."

"Okay." He grunted in response.

Undeterred she waved her hand the way she came. "I'll show you around and introduce you to a few of our staff members."

Gilbert followed her down the hall. At the end it opened into a round room. There were many hallways leading out of the room. Right across from them was a nurses station, where the woman he had accidentally called out to earlier sat. She looked up from the page she was writing on and pursed her lips slightly.

"This is one of our head nurses, Miss. Kat." Angelique stated, "She's the head honcho here."

Gilbert gave her a dopey grin. "Is that right?"

Angelique narrowed her eyes at him and nodded. "She may seem like a big softie but you don't want to get on her bad side. Trust me."

Kat set her file down and stood up, coming around the side of the nurses station and toward them. Her short blonde hair bounced slightly as she moved. "This is where the patients come to collect their medication. It's usually 2-3 times a day, once before each meal." She explained, eyeing Gilbert cautiously.

"There's always someone on duty here, a nurse and an orderly. If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to come here and ask us." Angelique said.

"As long as its within reason." Kat added before she turned and went back to her file.

Angelique turned back towards the entrance of SoNo, the big metal door at the end of the hallway. On either side of that entry way were two long narrow halls, numbered doors running up and down each side. She pointed to the one on the right. "This is the women's rooms. Male patients are not allowed down there under any circumstances." She pointed to the left hallway. "This is the male unit. Vice versa to the other, female patients are not permitted over here as well." She side eyed him with an eyebrow raised. "Got it?"

"I'm not a fucking retard." Gilbert snapped. "That should be common sense not a rule."

"Another rule," Angelique piped up loudly, "is no swearing. It's disrespectful and could potentially bother another patient. If you can't follow that rule, at least keep your cursing to a minimum and use less harsh terms."

"So I can't say fuck?" Gilbert asked with a smirk.

"No." Angelique responded flatly.

"How about shit?"

"No."

"Crap? Ass? Bitch? Bastard? Whore? Damn?"

"Obviously not." She snapped. "Now smarten up. I don't want to put up with your shi-"

"Thought we couldn't swear." Gilbert interrupted. He began to cackle loudly when Angelique's face turned red with frustration.

After taking a deep breath and calming down Angelique turned to Gilbert. "Listen, we've all been briefed about you. You can be out of here in 72 hours if you follow the rules and prove you don't need to be here. My advice is if you really don't belong here, you'd better clean up your act and behave."

Gilbert's face fell instantly. He gave her a dirty look and crossed his arms. "I know I don't belong here and I'll be laughing in all your faces when 72 hours is up and I'm walking right the fuck outta here."

"Well I guess we'll just have to see about that." Angelique said, her voice condescendingly sweet.

Gilbert scowled at her and turned away.

"Your room is down here," Angelique stated, walking down the left hallway without waiting for Gilbert to catch up. "You will be sharing a room with a fellow patient."

At the mention of another person Gilbert realized how quiet it was. He glanced up and down the hallway and tried to peek into rooms as they passed but he didn't see any other patients.

"This is your room." Angelique stopped in front of a door with the number 9 on it. She gave one curt knock before opening the door and stepping aside, letting Gilbert step into the room.

One bed sat against the far wall, a large window above it. Thin wires crisscrossed through the glass. There was a night table beside the bed with a small lamp on it. The bed was neatly made and the table clean. Gilbert assumed they were his.

The other bed was a few feet away, it's own night table on the opposite side. A dresser sat against the wall the door was on. Numerous articles of clothing hanging out. The other dresser sat across the room, facing his bed. His roommate's bed was unmade and the pillow was at the wrong end. Miscellaneous objects were strewn across his roommate's table.

"Well, it looks like your roommate moved his dresser again. They usually both sit against this wall." Angelique explained, pointing to the lighter spot on the wall where a dresser would have fit. Scratches along the floor followed the path of the dresser's legs to it's new location.

There was a doorway in between where his dresser and the other dresser's old location sat.

"That's the bathroom." Angelique explained.

"This is my bed, right?" Gilbert asked, inclining his chin towards the made bed.

Angelique nodded in confirmation.

"Right." He grunted.

Angelique lead Gilbert back to the round room with the nurses station. As they went she explained their basic rules. "There's to be no fighting with other patients. No sexual relations either. If you want to make any calls you can do so over there." She pointed to a small cove off to the far corner, right beside the nurses station where they could watch the patients. There were two pay phones. Gilbert grimaced.

"How are you supposed to make calls if you don't have any money?" He asked.

"Most families bring some change in on Visiting Day. Other patients borrow from each other." Angelique shrugged.

"The doctor will call for you at some point tomorrow. One of the nurses will come to get you. After that he'll tell you appointment times and it's up to you to get there. You can attend any group therapy sessions you want. The doctor will tell you all about them."

Gilbert gave a grunt in response. He rubbed his eyes, which had started to burn. He hadn't realized how tired he was getting.

"Breakfast is from 8-9AM. Lunch from 12-1PM and dinner is at 6PM. If you want to eat, I recommend you don't miss those times."

Angelique pointed to a doorway beside the nurses station, Gilbert's eyes followed the long hallway and he squinted to see the other side. He could faintly make out tables and chairs.

"That's the lounge. That's where people usually spend most of their time. If you go in there you'll see a couch and TV to the right and the dining area to the left."

"Anything else?"

"A couple of times a day a nurse and orderly will take everyone out for a cigarette break. If you're not there when they go, you miss out."

Gilbert grimaced. He had left his pack of cigarettes in his room earlier that day. He cursed under his breath and rubbed his eye again. His cheek still stung from his encounter with the police.

"You'll learn the rest of the rules as you get used to things." Angelique explained. "There aren't that many really, and you'll get used to it in no time."

Gilbert shook his head. He didn't want to get used to things here. He wanted to go home.

It took Gilbert a moment to realize he had adjusted to the atmosphere at SoNo and could hear the faint noise coming from the lounge. He looked down the hallway, an orderly - the same one from earlier - was coming down towards them. Gilbert could hear the voices of patients behind him.

"Oh, Gilbert." Angelique smiled as the orderly approached them. "This is Sadik. He's one of our orderlies."

They didn't shake hands but Sadik nodded to Gilbert and excused himself to go talk to Nurse Kat.

"I'm just going to show you where the doctors offices are. Then you're free to do whatever you'd like for the evening." Angelique explained, leading him down one of the many hallways.

Gilbert nodded and trailed behind her. All he wanted was to get this over with and go to sleep. He wanted these 72 hours to be over with as soon as possible.

* * *

Gilbert made his way slowly down the male hallway. He didn't know what time it was, but he was sure it was well after dinner. He had seen a few patients wandering around, but none had said so much as a word to him. He didn't care for making friends right now anyway. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for the next 72 hours.

Once he reached it, Gilbert opened the door and walked into room 9 without hesitation.

He froze in the open doorway, his hand still on the knob. Sitting on the unmade bed was a young male with lightly tanned skin and dark brown hair. He was wearing gray track pants, a black t-shirt and socks. He looked startled and slightly alarmed. They stared at each other in silence.

"Who the fuck are you?" The boy on the bed asked, his brow furrowed.

Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I asked you first." The boy narrowed his eyes and sized Gilbert up.

Gilbert pursed his lips and decided he was done playing games. "I'm Gilbert the Fucking Great. Who the fuck are you?"

The boys lips twitched at the corners and he relaxed a bit. "I'm Lovino Fucking Vargas. I take it you're my new roommate?"

Gilbert shrugged and shut the door. He stalked across the room and slumped down on his bed, face first into his pillow.

"You're German aren't you? I can tell from your annoying accent. I don't want to share a room with some stupid fucking potato bastard."

Gilbert's head shot up and he glared at Lovino, who sneered back at him. "I didn't ask to share a room with some prissy little Italian bitch either. So let's agree to not fucking speak to one another."

"I'm not going to do something just because you told me too. I'm going to fucking talk if I fucking want to!" Lovino snapped, his voice increasing in volume.

"Do whatever you want, I'm not even going to be here for long." Gilbert turned away again, clearly his roommate was looking for a fight and he was not in the mood to indulge him right now.

Suddenly Gilbert remembered the few possessions he had in his pockets. Sitting up again, he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a fist full of various objects.

"What's that?" Lovino asked, sounding suddenly very passive and relaxed, as though they hadn't just been spitting insults at one another. Gilbert glanced over and saw Lovino pointing at the crumpled, half-eaten pack of gummy-candies.

"They're just Gummy Worms." He stated, picking up the package and inspecting it.

"Oh." Lovino stated, staring none-too-subtly at the package.

"Why?" Gilbert asked, holding the crinkled pack out to him. "Do you want them?"

Lovino looked suspiciously at Gilbert, as though he didn't believe he would give them to him. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean they're probably stale; they were in my backpack for a few days." Gilbert shook the pack in his outstretched hand. "But you can have 'em if you want. I'm not gonna eat them."

Lovino's eyes lit up and he quickly leaned over and snatched the pack from Gilbert's hand. "Fucking cool. Thanks."

Gilbert shrugged as he dropped the rest of his belongings onto his night table. "No big deal, it's just some candy."

"It's kind of a big deal," Lovino stated, swallowing one of the candies. "We don't get shit like this here. I mean like, unless someone's family brings it for them. But that rarely happens."

"Oh." Gilbert kicked off his useless, floppy shoes and pulled off his large gray sweatshirt, deciding to sleep in his jeans and white tank-top. "You're welcome then."

He tossed his sweatshirt to the end of his bed and tugged the sheet back, crawling under. He pressed his face firmly against the mildly uncomfortable pillow and closed his eyes.

"I could show you around or something tomorrow. I mean, I don't fucking care but I will if you want." Lovino grumbled from his bed.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder at Lovino. Apparently winning over his friendship was as easy as sharing stale candy with him.

"Okay, cool." He muttered before rolling back over and closing his eyes. The exhaustion of the day caught up to him in seconds.

The last thing Gilbert registered as he drifted off to sleep was the sound of Lovino clicking off his lamp and laughing under his breath, repeating the word 'cool' over and over again to himself.

In the back of his mind, a steady ticking lulled him into a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Yay, Lovi showed up. And he's gonna be in it a lot because he's Gil's roommate and a troublemaker. uwu

I'm never sure what names to use for certain characters like Seychelles because people use so many different ones. I was gonna go with Michelle, so they could call her 'Chelles, which is what I usually use but I thought I'd try using Angelique for her which I think is more cannon.

Probably won't update again until Sept. I have a big con coming up on the last weekend of August! (Check my about page to find my blog and stuff where I talk about it!)

Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter three: Doses

Gilbert awoke to the sound of the door being thrown open and a familiar voice calling out.

"Gilbert! Wake up! How long do you intend to sleep?"

Gilbert grunted as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?" He asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Angelique looked at the watch on her wrist. "It's already after 8. We're not letting you skip out on breakfast and meds on the first day, so get up and come with me."

Gilbert grunted as he leaned over the side of the bed and pulled on his floppy shoes. He sat up and stretched, reaching for his sweater while he glanced at Lovino's bed. It was empty, though still a mess. Lovino's pillow was still at the wrong end of the bed, half hanging off.

Gilbert pulled his sweater on as he stood up, Angelique clicked her tongue impatiently. Purposely, Gilbert took his sweet time gathering up his pathetically small amount of belongings and putting them into his pockets.

Deciding he had played around enough, Gilbert slowly followed her out of the room, leaving the door open. Angelique lead the way back to the circular room with the nurses station in the corner. It was empty but Gilbert could hear the chatter from the lounge area where he assumed the orderly probably was.

"Alright," She said as she glanced at a clipboard and held up a small paper cup to him, "These are your morning meds."

Gilbert hesitantly took the cup and dumped the pills into his palm. There were three pills of various sizes and colours. "I know I have to take these while I'm here but why do I need three? What do they do?"

Angelique adjusted her nurses hat and slid behind the desk, resting her hands daintily on the smooth surface. "The basics for a new ward," She gave him a small smirk when he narrowed his eyes, "a small sedative for temperament and behaviour issues and a little something to make you friendlier."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow, "Okay. So what's the third one?"

Angelique glanced into his eyes hesitantly, Gilbert could tell instantly that she was sizing him up and trying to gauge his mood, to see if he would go crazy. He felt his irritation rising at the small act.

"It's an antipsychotic," Quickly, before Gilbert could argue, she held her hand up and glanced to the side, where Sadik emerged from the hall leading to the lounge. "The notes on your file say that you seemed very agitated yesterday and the doctor thought it best to give you the smallest possible dose, to see if it would help. If you have any issues with your prescribed medication you can bring it up with the doctor at your scheduled session. Understand?"

Gilbert nodded slowly, he knew arguing wouldn't give him any points on the 'not-insane scale'. Taking the pill once and then discussing it with the doctor wasn't going to kill him. He reminded himself that all he had to do was follow the rules and he should be free to go. Easy.

Sadik came over and leaned against the desk. "Hey, Ang. Here's the keys from the smoke break." He handed her the set of keys and turned to Gilbert, who popped the pills into his mouth and used the small offered cup of water to down them all at once. He grimaced at the bitter taste left in his mouth.

"Hey, Gilbert. How's it going?" Sadik asked casually.

Gilbert glared at him and grunted in response, running his tongue over his teeth and gums, trying to get the chalky taste from his mouth.

Sadik laughed softly, his voice deep and soothing. "That's the usual response around here. Better get some breakfast before Antonio has to pack it up for the morning."

Gilbert nodded his head at them, feeling slightly strange. A small tingling sensation had began to run through his muscles. He turned towards the lounge and swayed slightly, the room around him shifted from side to side. Gilbert stumbled forward a few steps, feeling very unsure about his ability to stay upright.

Suddenly the room swung to the left, still lightheaded Gilbert tried to catch his balance. Apparently, he realized too late, he was unable to do so. Jolts of pain shot through his hands and knees and he slowly came to the conclusion he had fallen and was staring at the ground.

"Oh... Mein... Gott!" Gilbert yelled his words slowly, testing his speech abilities. His thoughts moved slowly, as though a thick fog had settled inside his head and he had to wade his way through it to find the right reaction.

He barely acknowledged the sound of Angelique's chair scraping the floor and footsteps approaching him until a heavy hand rested on his back.

"Gilbert?" A deep voice rumbled. "Gilbert, are you alright?" Must be Sadik he reasoned, Angelique's voice was much higher (and pitchier and much less calming). But the thought of such a deep voice coming from her petite, cute face made Gilbert snort with amusement.

"M'fuckin' out..." He slurred in response.

Sadik grabbed him by his upper arm and helped him into an upright, standing position. Gilbert swayed precariously on the spot for a moment before he got his footing.

Sadik kept his grip firm but weak enough that Gilbert could pull away if he chose. "Going to the lounge? I'll help you get there."

"M'tripping... Balls, y'know?" Gilbert shut his eyes tightly and opened them slowly, trying to blink the unsteadiness from his body.

Angelique had gone back to the desk and was already on the phone, chatting quietly.

"You're not tripping out, don't worry." Sadik's voice was calm as he slowly guided Gilbert forward a few stumbled steps. "It's just a side effect from the medication. The worst part will wear off in a few minutes, just gotta walk it off."

Gilbert followed Sadik, lagging behind him a few steps. It felt like an eternity passed by the time they made it to the lounge. The room seemed divided; tables for eating sat to the left and a television and couches sat to the right. There was a door at the back of the room and a large window with the little wire mesh crossing through it.

Sadik guided Gilbert over to the couch and he slumped down into the seat, letting his head roll to the side and rest against the back of the couch.

"Sit tight, buddy. I'll get you some food, that should help the feeling go away faster." Sadik pat his shoulder as he turned toward the man who stood by the tables with a cart, talking with some of the patients. He was dressed exactly like Sadik was.

Gilbert shut his eyes and groaned. He heard the distinct sound of approaching footsteps, bare feet hitting tile, and slowly cracked one eye open. Lovino stood above him, smirking down at him.

"Hey roomie," Lovino greeted, cocking his head to the side. "How're you liking your meds?"

Gilbert forced his head up and glowered. "What do you think?" He hissed.

Lovino shrugged carelessly. "I don't."

Gilbert balled his hand into a weak fist and rubbed his eye. His grip felt similar to that of when first waking up in the morning.

"You don't what?" He murmured, clenching and unclenching his weak fist.

"Think." Lovino said, turning his gaze around the room.

"You don't think?" Gilbert scrunched up his nose in confusion.

"Not if I can help it."

"Uh huh," Gilbert grunted, giving up on understanding the conversation. There was no point, he decided, in having a conversation with a crazy person while whacked out on unknown medicines.

Lovino sat down beside Gilbert, pulling his legs up and sitting crossed legged.

Sadik reappeared, holding a tray in one hand. He set it down on Gilbert's lap. "I trust you're not harassing the new guy, Lovino?"

"No!" Lovino snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't harass anyone!"

Sadik raised an eyebrow and gave Lovino a disbelieving look. "Oh yeah? Since when?" He asked, his tone friendly.

"Since forever. I'm a fucking saint here." Lovino glared at the orderly.

Sadik laughed lightly and shook his head. "No swearing, man. You know the rules."

"Fuck the rules," Lovino grunted, scrunching his eyebrows together in irritation.

"I'll let that slide for now, but you really have to stop swearing, Lovino." Sadik warned, rubbing his jaw. "You don't want Dr. T. to find out and up your meds again, do you?"

Lovino didn't respond, he purposely turned his head away from Sadik and watched the patients sitting on the other couch chatter quietly to one another.

Sadik rolled his shoulders and placed his hands on his hips, turning his attention back to Gilbert. "How you doing, buddy? Feeling any better yet?"

"A bit," Gilbert responded, already feeling too exhausted to put on an attitude.

"Eating helps, trust me." Sadik waved towards the tray and took a step back. "I have some rounds to do but I'll come by later and see how you're doing then, yeah?"

"Sure." Gilbert looked down at the tray as Sadik walked out of the room. There was a small box of cereal- the single serving sized type, a small carton of milk, a box of orange juice, apple slices and an oatmeal cookie.

Lovino reached over and snatched the cookie of Gilbert's tray, ripping apart the plastic wrap in seconds.

Gilbert glanced at him with his eyebrows raised. "Would you perhaps like to have my cookie, Lovino?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The feeling from his medicine was slowly dying down, his awareness coming back to him gradually.

"Thanks," Lovino murmured, either unaware or undisturbed by the sarcasm. He spoke around his mouth full of cookie. "It's compensation for letting you be my roommate."

"I don't even like oatmeal anyway." Gilbert muttered, picking up the cereal box and tearing into it.

The television was quietly playing a news network and only one person in the room seemed to be interested in it. Gilbert used the time while he ate to familiarize himself with his surroundings and the various patients that came in and out of the room.

The majority of the patients appeared to be male, though there were a few females. One of which sat hunched at the farthest table in the room, her back to Gilbert. She had long platinum blonde hair, neatly pulled back with a navy blue bow and appeared to be focusing very intently on something he couldn't see.

"That's Natalia." Lovino stated suddenly, leaning close to Gilbert who had the sudden urge to shove him away. The close proximity startled him and he quickly shovelled as much cereal into his mouth as possible, trying to distract himself from it. Lovino seemed completely unaware of Gilbert's inner turmoil as he continued to chatter on.

"She's kind of scary when you first meet her, but she's not too bad when you get used to her. She can turn just about anything into a weapon though, so she's on 'The Watch' by the orderlies." Lovino sat back, watching Natalia for another quiet moment before turning away, rubbing his forehead as he did.

Gilbert popped open the little carton of milk and downed it in two gulps, realizing only then how absolutely thirsty he really was. The box of orange juice shared the same fate as the milk.

"That's Lukas," Lovino pointed to a boy sitting by himself, pushing pieces of cereal around with his finger. "He doesn't really talk to anyone so I don't know what his problem is but if you sit beside him and talk, he'll listen. You could go on for fucking hours and he wouldn't say a thing or move an inch." Lovino cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes as he regarded Lukas curiously. "... It's kind of weird actually." He murmured.

Gilbert nodded his head, only half listening as he opened the pack of apple slices. He held it out in offering to Lovino, who took one and popped it into his mouth.

Gilbert glanced at the door just in time to see another boy hurry in. His clothing was in complete disarray, his navy blue shirt hung off his shoulder, revealing a patch of lightly freckled skin along his collar bone. He wore green plaid pajama pants with the bottoms tucked into heavy winter socks, the type that always reminded Gilbert of sock monkeys. He had dark blond hair that stuck up in every direction, looking as though it hadn't been brushed (or washed, Gilbert might add) in weeks. His eyes darted quickly around the room before landing on Gilbert and Lovino.

Gilbert was slightly startled by the shade of his eyes, a bright emerald green that seemed to glitter as he turned and approached them. He clutched two books tightly in his arms. He stopped in front of the couch and looked them over, his slightly thicker than average eyebrows turned up in interest.

"Who're you?" He asked bluntly, cocking his head toward Gilbert.

"Who're you?" Gilbert spat, glaring at the newcomer. Lovino snorted with amusement. He was reminded briefly of the moment he met Lovino and their first conversation.

The boy looked less than amused, giving him a sarcastic smile. He turned to Lovino and pointed towards Gilbert with his thumb, completely ignoring his presence. "Who is he?"

"He's Gilbert the FUCKING Great, who the FUCK are you?!" Lovino shouted his choice words, grinning like a fool when the orderly who had the breakfast trays earlier gave him a stern look.

"What's so great about him?" He asked.

Lovino hesitated, glancing at Gilbert. Gilbert pursed his lips and shrugged. Lovino turned back to the boy and shrugged at him.

"Well how can you consider him great if he isn't even sure why he's great?"

Lovino sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead. "Shut up, Arthur. I'm sick of this game. Gilbert this is Arthur, he thinks he's a wizard."

Gilbert paused, an apple slice hovered in front of his mouth. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I don't think I'm a wizard, you cretin." Arthur snapped, crossing his arms while holding his books tightly in one hand. "And the proper term is _sorcerer._"

Gilbert bit his lip, trying to conceal his sudden urge to laugh. "So you think you can do magic?"

Arthur finally turned back to him, casting a glance into Gilbert's lidded eyes. "I don't think I can. I know I can. I have a preference for the dark arts, you know."

"Dark arts? Like Satan and summoning demons and curses and all that kinda shit?" Gilbert asked, sounding amused.

Arthur tilted his head and shook it a bit. "Not necessarily, but something along those lines. Curses, I mean, yeah. But not summoning demons." He paused for a moment, looking in deep in thought. "That would be really cool though, wouldn't it? Perhaps I should look into it."

Gilbert spared a glance at Lovino who was now watching the television looking bored out of his mind.

Arthur sat down on the floor in front of the small coffee table that was littered with magazines. He swiped them onto the floor in one swift movement and set his own books down. Facing them, he carefully opened the larger, hardcover book to one of the many pages marker with a coloured post-it note. Then, he pulled the other book, a notebook, closer to himself. Within seconds all of his focus was on the text in front of him, he had a pen in hand and was scribbling in the notebook faster than Gilbert could keep up with.

"What's he doing?" Gilbert asked quietly.

Lovino didn't bother looking up from the television, his eyes were glued to the small screen. "He does this everyday. Reads random books and takes notes."

"Why?" Gilbert asked.

"Don't know, don't care." Lovino stated, finally glancing towards Arthur. "Somethings that happen here you just don't really question, you know."

Gilbert opened his mouth to respond but a hand on his shoulder stopped the words dead in his mouth. He turned slightly, looking up to see who was there.

A tall man, handsome and tan, with curly brown hair and olive green eyes was smiling down at him. Gilbert recognized him as the man who had been standing over the food cart, handing people their breakfast trays.

"Hola, amigo!" He greeted, gently and cautiously giving Gilbert's shoulder a squeeze.

"Uh, h-" Gilbert was cut off by a loud groan from beside him. They all turned their attention to Lovino who was now glaring up at the orderly.

"What the fuck do you want, bastard?" Lovino snapped, crossing his arms again.

"Lovino!" The orderly put his hands on his hips. "That's the reason I came over here! You know you aren't allowed to swear, let alone yell. Your outburst earlier agitated more than one of the patients in here."

"Oh my god," Lovino rolled his eyes dramatically.

"I'll let it go this time, okay, Lovino? But please try and keep the swearing to a minimum, si?" The orderly smiled patiently.

"What-fucking-ever," Lovino murmured.

The orderly turned his attention back to Gilbert, his large grin still plastered to his face. "You're Gilbert, si? I'm Antonio! Nice to meet you."

Gilbert nodded his head politely, finding it hard to pull an attitude with the perky young man.

"Don't be scared to ask if you have any questions or need anything, okay? Even if you just want an orange or something, I'll help you out!"

Gilbert gave him a small half smile and nodded again. "Yeah, okay. Sure. I will."

"Good!" Antonio chirped. "I hope Lovino has been behaving himself and being nice to you?"

"Oh my god," Lovino muttered again. "You are not my fucking mother, please."

Antonio chuckled and shook his head, his brown curls bounced. "Si, si! Of course not, amigo. You're just a little hard to be friends with, is all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lovino growled.

"It means," Antonio said, choosing his words cautiously. "You have a bit of a fiery personality."

Lovino rolled his eyes and turned back to the television.

Antonio smiled at Gilbert, "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know you shouldn't be afraid to ask for anything, okay? Let's be friends!"

Gilbert's lips twitched at the corners, a smile played it's way slowly across his face. Somehow Antonio's bubbly personality seemed infectious, the only immunity being Lovino.

"Sure," Gilbert said, bopping his head in agreement. "That's fine, I guess."

"Great!" Antonio cheered. "I'll see you guys later, I'm gonna go check on the others."

They watched as Antonio walked back towards the table where a few of the other patients still sat.

"This place is a fucking prison." Lovino muttered under his breath.

"Gilbert?" Angelique poked her head into the room, looking around before spotting him. "Ah! There you are. Time for your appointment with Dr. Tino."

Gilbert stood up warily, using the arm rest for support. Though the fog his medicines had caused in his brain had lifted, he didn't want a replay of the tumble he took earlier.

Finding that all of his limbs seemed to be in working- though relaxed- order, he followed Angelique through the hallways to his first appointment. A list of various things he planned to complain about continuously ran through his mind.

The most important thing, he had to remind himself numerous times over, was that he had to stay calm and seem normal, healthy and completely sane.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hey, hey, hey. Here's the new chapter! I hope it doesn't disappoint too much. uwu Mattie shows up in the next chapter, so that's something to look forward to. Also, sorry for slow updates, I have quite a few fics going and keeping them all up to date is hell.

Anyway, I don't think it'll show too much of Gilbert's actual interactions with Dr. Tino because I want to focus more on what happens with the other patients. Though, of course I plan to include the important things from his meetings. Blahblahblah. I don't know.

There are probably a lot of mistakes and mischaracterization I planned to fix but I got lazy and really don't feel like editing again, sorry! uwu


	4. Chapter four: Fire Alarm

"How are you feeling today, Gilbert?" Dr. Tino asked. He sat at a simple dark hardwood desk. He had a computer in front of him and various personal objects sat around it. A notebook was open and he jotted a few notes in it every few minutes.

Gilbert glared at the surface of the desk, purposely ignoring Dr. Tino's question. He found it hard to be rude to someone who seemed so nice and caring, like Antonio. His eyes swept across the various things on the desk as he tried to focus his attention on not letting his emotions blow up.

Dr. Tino let the silence stretch out for a few minutes before he spoke up again. "Gilbert?"

Finally Gilbert looked up and frowned. He sat slouched in his chair, across from the doctor, with his arms crossed. "I feel fine, maybe a little angry about being here without needing to be, and getting medicines I don't need and for not being able to go home."

Dr. Tino nodded his head sympathetically. "I understand how you're feeling, Gilbert. I know this must be hard for you. A sudden change like this is never easy. Have you considered trying to embrace this as an opportunity to help you understand yourself a little better?"

Gilbert shook his head.

"If anything, you could always think of these seventy two hours as an extended vacation." Dr. Tino chuckled lightly, giving Gilbert a friendly smile.

Gilbert hesitated and shrugged. "I just don't like it, being here and taking medicine and shit."

"Angelique mentioned that you were having some problems with your medicine. Would you like to tell me about that?" Dr. Tino glanced down at the notebook in front of him, as if everything about Gilbert was recorded in his notes, as if every little interaction they'd had with him so far had been written down and was sitting there, waiting for the doctor to read it.

"First of all..." Gilbert started, sitting up more in his chair, clearly preparing himself for the long winded list of complaints he'd been making since the previous day.

* * *

Gilbert stretched his stiff muscles as he trudged down the quiet hall toward the nurses station. He rounded the corner and found the desk empty. He knew he could easily walk over and go through everything, take what he wanted, maybe even find the keys to an exit. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd find the key to the heavy iron door at the entrance.

Gilbert took a step towards the desk and nearly jumped out of his skin when a door behind him was thrown open with a bang. He turned quickly, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. His heart raced as he watched a small girl, with a blonde bob haircut, hurry down the hall and rush into another room.

Slowly Gilbert placed his hand over his racing heart and took a deep breath.

"Gilbert?" A soft spoken female voice came from behind him, "Is everything alright?"

Gilbert turned back to the desk. Miss. Kat stood behind it, pulling a few pills from a bottle. Lovino was leaning against the front of the desk, watching her sort pills in her palm.

"M' fine," He muttered, sparing a quick last glance down the female's hallway.

Gilbert walked over to them and leaned against the desk beside Lovino. "What're you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm having tea with the queen," Lovino said sarcastically, giving Gilbert an 'are-you-really-that-stupid?' kind of face, "What the hell does it look like I'm doing?"

"Looks like you're being a little bitch to me," Gilbert snapped, narrowing his eyes. Lovino snorted as he extended his hand palm up to Miss. Kat.

"Boys, please." She said, keeping her eyes on the bottle in her hands. "No fighting."

Finally she set the bottle down and dropped three pills into Lovino's waiting hand.

"Hey, I took one of those this morning," Gilbert said, trying to remember what all of his pills did. "What do they do?"

Miss. Kat shook her head. "Talking about another patient's medication is against the rules."

Gilbert scrunched up his nose. "But I took one this morning."

"A lot of the pills look the same, Gilbert." She explained gently.

Lovino held them out for Gilbert to see. Three round white pills lay in the palm of his hand.

"I totally took the same one this morning." Gilbert affirmed.

"They're mood stabilizers. Sedatives, basically." Lovino popped all three pills into his mouth at once and chased them down with the small offered cup of water.

Gilbert's eyes widened. "Wait, are those the ones that messed me up earlier?"

"Probably," Lovino shrugged. "The more often you take them the less of an effect it has on you."

"You have to take three? That's crazy. Why do you need so many?" Gilbert's eyes traveled up and down Lovino's scrawny body. Someone his size should surely be knocked out by just one of the pills.

"Because I'm an asshole without them, I guess?" Lovino pivoted on his foot and headed toward the lounge. Gilbert followed behind him, watching Lovino curiously. He wondered if he'd react the same way as he had earlier, or worse maybe.

Lovino plopped down on the same couch they had sat on earlier and Gilbert followed suit, still watching Lovino from the corner of his eye.

Gilbert propped his chin in his hand, resting his elbows on his knees. Finally, Lovino turned and looked him directly in the eye. Gilbert jolted and looked away, surprised to have been caught staring.

"Nothings going to happen, I hope you know." Lovino stated. "I've been taking these for so long that the side effect doesn't bother me anymore."

Gilbert pursed his lips, feeling slightly disappointed. He stood up and brushed off the back of his pants. He headed toward a table where Antonio sat, not so subtly texting on his cell phone.

"I'm thirsty," Gilbert stated.

Antonio jumped, nearly dropping his phone in his rush to put it away. He stood up and gave Gilbert a relieved smile.

"Amigo, you scared me! I thought you were someone else for a second." Antonio laughed and patted his pants pocket, where his phone was now hidden.

Gilbert gave him a small half smile in return.

"So, what was it you said?" Antonio asked, clasping his hands together and giving Gilbert his full attention.

"I'm thirsty." Gilbert repeated. "I don't know if there's like... A water fountain or something I'm supposed to use?"

"No, no!" Antonio shook his head. "I can get you a drink from the kitchen, what would you like?"

"Beer?" Gilbert asked, hopeful but doubtful.

Antonio chuckled. "You wish, amigo. We have water; orange, apple and grape juice, milk, things like that."

"Water's fine, I guess." Gilbert said.

"Back in a flash!" Antonio grinned and headed down the hallway. Gilbert turned and stood near the centre of the room, Lovino joined him moments later.

A comfortable silence fell between them and Gilbert tapped his fingers against his pant leg, slowly counting out the rhythm in his head.

"FUCK!" Lovino said suddenly. Gilbert raised his eyebrows and looked down at him.

"Excuse me?"

"It's nothing. Just reminding myself." Lovino said, waving his hand flippantly in the air.

"Reminding yourself wh-"

"U-um, excuse me?" Gilbert was cut off by a soft voice behind him, he turned and glanced down. A boy with chin length honey blond curls and pale skin stood behind him, wringing his hands nervously. He wore a dark gray long sleeved shirt with a baggy, lighter gray t-shirt over top. His pants were simple black track pants and he wore loose burgundy socks with no shoes or slippers.

The boy bit his lip and glanced up, looking into Gilbert's eyes briefly before quickly looking away again. His eyes were a deep blue, so dark it took Gilbert a moment to respond.

He swallowed thickly before he spoke. "Yeah?" He asked.

He glanced up again, and released his lower lip from between his teeth. "Uh, well, um. D-do you maybe, um, have a lighter I could borrow?"

Gilbert raised his eyebrows as he looked at the kid. His skin was creamy white, pale and smooth, save for the flush that was slowly appearing on his slightly sunken cheeks. He had purple shadows under his eyes and a couple of light freckles dotted his cheeks.

"Oh! Please?" He added as an after thought. He quickly licked his bottom lip before catching it between his teeth again, looking up at Gilbert with his eyebrows turned up.

Gilbert glanced over his shoulder to Lovino who had a wickedly devilish grin on his face. He turned back as he eased his hand into his pocket, finding one of the two small boxes of matches he had snatched from his bag before it was confiscated.

"I don't have a lighter but I have a pack of matches." He offered.

The boy raised his eyebrows in surprise but took the pack from him. "I can... I can have them?" He asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, go ahead." Gilbert shrugged his shoulder, sliding his hands into the pockets of his baggy jeans. He wouldn't be needing them anyway, having left his cigarettes at home. He realized that must be why the kid wanted a lighter, a cigarette break would probably be soon.

"Thank you!" He breathed out, his voice soft and airy. The kid turned excitedly and hurried out of the room, all but sprinting away from them.

Lovino snickered behind him and Gilbert turned, his eyebrow raised.

"What's so funny?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that." Lovino said, his grin just as big as it had been previously.

"Why not? Who was that?" Gilbert asked, clenching his fists in his pockets.

Lovino shook his head, chuckling to himself. "You'll see soon enough."

Before Gilbert could hurdle more questions at him, Lovino pointed over his shoulder. "Your drink is here."

Gilbert turned again, sick of the constant motion. Antonio approached with an apologetic smile.

"Ah, amigo! Lo siento! Sorry for the wait! I had to deal with a small ah, tussle, if you will. Here you go!" He handed Gilbert the bottle of chilled water. "Make sure you recycle the bottle, okay?"

Gilbert nodded his head. "Thanks."

"No problemo!" He turned to Lovino and gave him a friendly smile. "Do you need anything, Lovi?"

"No. And don't call me that!" Lovino hissed, bristling like an angry cat. Gilbert snickered quietly at the thought.

"Okay, okay! Lo siento!" Antonio held his hands up in surrender.

A sudden thought occurred to Gilbert and he interrupted Lovino, who had just opened his mouth to speak again.

"Hey, Antonio?" He asked, turning back to the sunny orderly.

"Yes?" Antonio looked at him with curious large eyes.

"Uh," Gilbert hesitated, unsure of how to phrase his question. "Do you have some change or something I could borrow? I want to call my brother but I don't have any..."

Antonio raised his eyebrows and shoved his hand in his pants pocket. "Sure! I might have some change on me." He pulled out a small handful of personal items and fumbled through them for his change.

Antonio hummed to himself quietly as he picked out some coins. Lovino walked away from the them, sitting on the couch to watch TV.

"Aha! Here you go." He held out his handful of change to Gilbert.

"Thanks, man." Gilbert said, accepting the coins.

Antonio waved his gratitude away. "It's nothing, amigo."

Gilbert couldn't help but smile at Antonio, he was almost unbearably charming. Antonio returned the grin as though they were long time friends.

* * *

Gilbert hastily slid the coins into the slot on the payphone. He glanced behind him to where Miss. Kat sat calmly, transferring notes from a written folder to a computer. He pursed his lips and turned back to the phone, hitting the last key.

He held the receiver up to his ear. His heart pounded with excitement and nerves. He hadn't realized how much he want to talk to his brother until then. He thought of all the things he wanted to talk to Ludwig about, hoping he didn't forget anything.

The phone rang and Gilbert tapped his fingers impatiently. After several more rings Gilbert began to get antsy, Ludwig wasn't one to ignore a phone call.

"Come on already." Gilbert muttered, his stomach twisting with dread as the ringing droned on.

There was a click and a deep voice spoke. "Hello-"

"Ludwig!" Gilbert exclaimed, excitement jolting through him.

"You've reached the Beilschmidt residence. No one is currently available to take your call. Please leave your name and number after the beep and we'll get back to you. Thanks."

There was a loud beep and Gilbert stood there, gaping at the phone. Disappointment filled his chest as he slammed down the receiver, not bothering to leave a message.

He turned abruptly, angry with his brother for not picking up the phone. Ludwig had never _not_ answered when Gilbert called, no matter where he called from. Ludwig always answered the phone.

The blonde girl from earlier, the one who had startled him, hurried past him towards the phones, a small scrape of paper clutched in her little hands. He glared at her as she passed him.

He suddenly imagined himself reaching over and pulling the stupid purple ribbon out of her hair as violently and crudely as he could, pulling out strands of her pale blonde hair with it.

Gilbert quickly clenched his fists and shoved them into his pockets. He hurried out of the room without so much as a look back. He entered the lounge and stood by the door, scanning the room for some distraction.

Lovino glanced up at him from the couch, his dark hair messy.

Slowly, he waltzed over to the sofa and stood beside it, looking down at Lovino.

"What are you watching?" He asked.

Lovino turned back to the television, his lip curled up in disgust. "Some stupid talk show," He hissed, glaring at the screen. He then turned his heated gaze to Lukas, who sat on a chair close to the window, watching the television with vacant eyes. He didn't even acknowledge that Lovino had spoken to him.

"Ugh," Lovino growled. "I don't want to watch this."

Gilbert shrugged. "Then change it. It doesn't even look like he's watching it."

"I can't!" Lovino snapped, looking up at Gilbert. "We have a schedule for who gets to control the television at different times."

"Oh," Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "That makes sense, I guess."

A loud sudden alarm blared through the building, high-pitched and deafening. All the patients in the room slapped their hands over their ears, trying to block the horribly shrill alarm. Even Lukas, the most unresponsive person Gilbert had ever seen, had his hands over his ears.

Gilbert covered his ears and grimaced. The alarm rang loudly, echoing through the empty halls and bouncing off the smooth brick walls.

Lovino jumped up from where he sat, the only patient who didn't try to block out the noise, and cackled loudly. His eyes glittered as they flickered around the room in pure excitement.

Gilbert stared at him in complete shock and confusion. That was not the reaction he expected from Lovino. Maybe some irritated cursing and yelling at the most.

Antonio hurried out of the room, sprinting down the hall and disappearing. Seconds later Angelique bounced into the room, a strained smile on her face.

"Please stay calm everyone!" She called, her forced smile revealed how even she was uncomfortable with the blaring alarm. "Don't move from where you are. The alarm will be turned off in a moment."

Lovino laughed again and she shot him a look that screamed awaiting punishment. He clapped his hand over his mouth to try to stifle the endless giggles.

Gilbert clenched his jaw, quickly growing irritated with the loud noise. Clearly he wasn't the only one as a slight young man with brown hair that fell nearly to his shoulders scurried over to Angelique. His eyebrows were turned up and knit together in discomfort.

"Miss. Angel?" He asked, nervously wringing his hands. "Why's the alarm going off? What's going on? When will it be turned off?" He asked the questions all in one breath, his shoulders hunched up in a small attempt to stifle the sound.

"Calm down, Toris." She said, holding her hand out to halt his barrage of question. "One question at a time."

The young man- Toris, apparently, rubbed his hands together. "Why's the alarm going off?"

"We're figuring that out right now," She explained.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"The fire alarm is going off, we're figuring out the reason why right now, but I can assure you we have a very good idea of what happened to set it off." She shot another narrow eyed look to Lovino who dissolved into giggles again. Gilbert looked between them, trying to piece together the mystery.

"When will it be turned off?" Toris asked.

"Any moment now, Toris. Please be patient."

Toris glanced down the hall before looking back to Angelique. "Is everything okay?"

Angelique gave him a fond smile and nodded her head. "Yes, Toris. Everything is fine."

Toris seemed to pause, biting his lip as he thought of a million more questions to ask.

Suddenly, the alarm cut off. The silence rang loudly through the room as everyone slowly lowered their hands. Lovino huffed quietly.

Gilbert scrunched up his nose, the ringing in his ears was almost as irritating as the alarm had been.

The room was almost eerily quiet with the alarm off. Gilbert was amazed with how the other patients went back to what they had been doing prior, as though the alarm hadn't even happened.

Gilbert could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. He watched as Sadik came into the room, towing in the young teen who he had spoken to before. Sadik gripped the blond's upper arm tightly, practically dragging him into the room.

Sadik had his lips pressed into a tight line. Lovino snickered, quickly covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

Gilbert watched the blond closely. He had his hand on top of Sadik's, trying weakly to pry himself free.

Sadik's gaze landed on Lovino and he narrowed his eyes. Lovino instantly stopped his quiet laughter, he glared at Sadik and curled his lip back.

"What?" He snapped.

"Lovino? Did you give Matthew another lighter?" Sadik questioned, though he didn't seem angry Gilbert could see he was very serious about the situation. "I've told you numerous times to knock it off. Dr. Tino will-"

"It wasn't me!" Lovino shouted, his cheeks flushing in anger.

Sadik pursed his lips as Lovino began to fume. He turned to the blond whose arm he still gripped. "Matthew?"

The young teen- Matthew, shook his bowed head quickly.

Sadik gave a small sigh. "If you would just tell me who gave it to you, we could be done with this." He offered, using a calm and almost gentle voice to coerce the information from the blond.

Matthew just shook his head again, his soft curls breezed around his head.

"Uh," Gilbert stepped forward, grabbing all their attention. Normally he'd let something like this slide, but Lovino was his only friend in the place and he didn't want to have him take the blame for something that might be his fault. "I gave him some matches earlier...?"

Sadik raised his eyebrows. "You did?"

Gilbert shifted his weight uncomfortably and nodded his head. "He asked... So I gave them to him."

Matthew tugged on Sadik's fingers again, trying to release his arm. Sadik looked down at him. "Is that true, Matthew? Did you ask for his matches?"

Matthew hesitated, glancing over to Gilbert and Lovino who stared back at him.

"Technically," Matthew said softly, his voice unnaturally quiet, "I asked for his lighter."

Sadik frowned as Lovino burst into loud laughter. "You know you're not supposed to do that, Matthew."

Matthew ducked his head and bit his lip.

"Am I in trouble or something?" Gilbert asked, still slightly confused.

Sadik shook his head. "You didn't know. Lovino, however, should have warned you."

"I'm not his fucking mother." Lovino sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Let go of me." Matthew mumbled quietly, gripping Sadik's fingers a bit tighter.

Sadik sighed loudly and released Matthew, carefully stepping towards the door, blocking Matthew from it incase he decided to run.

Matthew stood close to Sadik's side, looking down at his socked feet. "Am _I_ in trouble?" He asked.

"It's up to Dr. Tino to decide. You're not in any trouble right now, but Angel's going to go and inform him on what happened now." He looked over to her as he spoke. "Aren't you?"

Angelique raised an unimpressed eyebrow and pursed her lips. "Mhmm. Well I guess I am. Not that he wouldn't see it in the log book anyway."

"Can I go back to my room now?" Matthew asked, keeping his eyes down.

"No," Sadik said firmly, placing his hand on Matthew's shoulder. "You have to stop with the lighters and matches, Matthew. Do you understand me?"

Matthew nodded his head sullenly

"And Gilbert, seeing as _someone_," A pointed look was shot towards Lovino who feigned innocence, "doesn't find it necessary to tell you these things, I will. No lighters or matches for Matthew, alright? He doesn't smoke and he doesn't need them."

Sadik shook his head again, tired. He turned Matthew to face Gilbert and Lovino.

"What do you have to say for almost getting them in trouble and for disturbing the other patients?" Sadik asked, his hands still resting on his shoulders.

"Sorry," Matthew whispered. Sadik patted his shoulder.

"It's fine," Gilbert shrugged, he looked Matthew over from head to toe. Lovino just smirked victoriously.

"Matthew, wait in here until Antonio comes to get you." Sadik said. He moved away from them before Matthew could protest and headed over to various patients, making sure they were calm and didn't need anything.

Matthew looked up at them then. His large deep blue eyes were wide, he looked nervous.

Lovino walked over to him, Gilbert followed at his heels. "Shitty. Looks like you're stuck with us for a while, Matthew."

Matthew rubbed his arm, looking uncomfortable.

"How come you didn't just tell them I gave you those matches?" Gilbert asked, his eyes glued to Matthew's face.

"I didn't want you to get in trouble," Matthew said softly, looking up at Gilbert through his pale lashes. He ran his fingers over the hem of his too long sleeve.

"Oh," Gilbert grunted.

Matthew nibbled on his lip and glanced over at Lovino.

"So," Gilbert shifted his weight from foot to foot, "Why are you here?"

Matthew shifted his gaze back to Gilbert and quickly looked away. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Who? Matthew?" Lovino asked, suddenly paying attention to the conversation again.

Gilbert nodded his head. "Yeah, I was talking to him."

Lovino grinned in the way that made Gilbert feel like he was up to no good. "Oh, that's simple. He's here because he has a total boner for fire."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows.

"Lovino!" Matthew cried in surprise. He shoved Lovino away from them, his eyes wide. "Don't say that!"

Lovino cackled and wrapped an arm around Matthew's shoulder. He looked up at Gilbert, still laughing. "It's true! Mattie's totally _hot_ for fire."

Matthew shoved Lovino away again, looking upset. "You're a jerk."

"You're a baby," Lovino sneered. "Get over it."

Matthew's bottom lip jutted out and he wrapped his arms around himself. Gilbert couldn't help but stare at Matthew's unconscious pout, his lip was a far darker shade of red than normal.

Gilbert had the sudden, inexplicable urge to reach out and touch Matthew's pouting lip. For a brief second he even considered what those lips might feel like against his skin, his lips, anything. He jolted slightly in surprise and shoved his hands into his pockets, clenching his fists tightly.

Matthew turned on his heel and headed toward the hallway. "I'm leaving," He mumbled, his cheeks growing red.

"Why are you being such a baby today?" Lovino asked, following a few steps after him.

"I'm not," Matthew whispered, not bothering to turn back to them. "You're being a jerk."

"I'm not a jerk," Lovino snapped, "Stop saying that."

"Stop being one." Matthew continued down the hall.

"You're going to get in trouble," Lovino warned, raising his voice as Matthew got farther away. "You're supposed to wait for Antonio."

Matthew scurried away quickly, all but sprinting away from them to get back to his room.

Gilbert watched him for a moment before turning to Lovino, who had his eyebrows knit together in what looked like concentration. "I think you made him upset."

"I don't care," Lovino shrugged. "It's not my problem."

"Uh-huh." Gilbert turned back to the lounge, wondering what to do now that all the excitement seemed to have passed.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

So, it's come to my attention if I've made Antonio apologize I've been putting "los siento" when it's actually "lo siento." My apologizes! I should have googled that or something sooner.

Uh, not much to say about this chapter, really. Except: yay, Mattie is here now! uwu Lovino sure seems to be a jerk though, huh? He likes to pick on people.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the update and I'll see you guys next time.


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